Sarah Handley-Cousins argues in her new book, Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North, that the bodies of disabled […]
Stop Depicting Technology As Redeeming Disabled People
About corn, fancy arms, and the narratives imposed upon me. About a year and half out from my amputation, I […]
“The Joy of My Life”: Seeing-Eye Dogs, Disabled Veterans/Civilians and WWI
On December 13, 1933, Captain A. J. C. Sington, then Chairman of the British Guide Dogs for the Blind, read […]
The Angel of the Workhouse: The Body, and the Body Politic, of Victorian Women with Disabilities
On September 12, 1846, a poet-prince married a “rather plain, thin, faded, hysterical woman [who] was loved for herself as […]
From Mooktie to Juan: The Eugenic Origins of the “Defective Immigrant”
On a Monday in November 1905, a “little deaf and dumb … 10-year old Eurasian girl” called Mooktie Wood arrived […]
It’s (Not) in Your Head: When Bodies Defy Logic
“If you say too little they can’t help you, and if they say too much they think you’re kind of […]
My Experiences with Auto-Immunity and Why I Dislike the Term “Able-Bodied”
I dislike the term “able-bodied.” I see this term used frequently in academic and activist scholarship, as well as everyday […]
Face to Face with Sharrona Pearl
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sharrona Pearl about her new book, Face/On: Transplants and the Ethics of […]
Care Gone Wrong: Bad Moms, Fake Disabilities, and Imagined Illnesses
At first, it seemed impossible that Gypsy Rose Blancharde had murdered her mother. Dee Dee appeared to be her daughter’s […]
Finding My Amputee Brethren
I remember vividly the first amputee I met after my amputation. Driving down with my spouse to Wake Forest from […]